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Can Salespeople Also Benefit From Online CRM Marketing Software?

When salespeople hear about online software that can help or fully automate marketing processes, they often assume that this type of software will only help their colleagues in the marketing department.

While that's a fair assumption, there are actually multiple ways that online marketing software can help everyone on the sales team.

If you're in sales and are still skeptical about the ability of automated marketing tools to make your life easier, here are three concrete examples of how it can do just that:

Understand Motivations and Behaviors

A big part of succeeding at sales is understanding why people make the decisions that they do. Contrary to the popular stereotype of the fast-talking salesman, the need to truly understand buyers is why the best salespeople spend more time listening than they do talking.

While there's no substitute for what you can gain from one-on-one interactions, the data collected and conveniently compiled by marketing software can supplement your ongoing pursuit of understanding exactly why some prospects end up buying and others don't.

Reduce Wasted Time

It's no secret that regardless of your specific industry, when it comes to sales, time truly is money. No salesperson wants to have multiple interactions with a lead, only to come to the realization that the prospect they've invested so much time in isn't ever going to make a purchase.

Other experiences that can be just as frustrating are spending time going over something with a lead that you didn't realize they've already covered with someone else or getting on the phone with a prospect and not being able to find all of their relevant information.

When integrated with an online CRM, software that provides marketing automation can eliminate these sources of frustration. Not only will that lower your stress, but it will also ensure that your valuable time isn't wasted. If your current marketing software or CRM doesn't provide any integrations, it may be in your best interest to upgrade.

Increase Pipeline Efficiency

A sales pipeline is only as efficient as its weakest point. For many companies, the weakest point of their pipeline is transitioning from marketing from sales.

When a lead first enters the pipeline, marketing is probably going to be the department that's responsible for nurturing them. While that's a sensible and effective approach, if a lead is identified as being a qualified sales prospect, they need to be seamlessly transferred to the sales team.

Marketing automation software can maximize the efficiency of this transfer. If a lead requires more nurturing from marketing, the software can put them through another email autoresponder or similar nurturing process. But whenever the lead hits the point of being ready for a sale, the software will prevent them from being taken through unnecessary marketing steps that can actually tank the sale.

Thanks to its ability to help with understanding the motivations and behaviors of leads, reduce wasted time, and increase pipeline efficiency, online marketing software is something that every salesperson should considering making a part of their workflow.

Craig Klein is the CEO of online sales CRM software company www.salesnexus.com in Houston Texas. Follow Craig on Google+ to learn more.